News 11 December 2025

Refrigeration business is the hot ticket for Mitie

Our latest acquisition means an award-winning engineering maintenance organisation is now part of Mitie.

Forest Group delivers refrigeration services for walk-in fridges, freezers, cellar cooling and blast chillers. It also partners some of the UK’s leading brands in hospitality and retail, including Wetherspoon and Greene King.

With a dedicated team of over 40 skilled mobile engineers serving a thriving client base, the Forest Group purchase makes sense for many reasons – but there are two key strategic reasons behind Mitie’s decision.

Forest Group van
Forest Group is now part of Mitie Group

Growing self-delivery

Firstly, as the UK’s leading facilities management company, Mitie is focused on growing and improving what we can self-deliver for customers.

Many of the largest retail operators, such as supermarkets, are reliant on refrigeration to function.

So, with Forest Group on board, Mitie can now deliver the unique services these retailers demand. It also enables our organisation to compete in a highly competitive market, where self-delivery is seen as vital by the customer, and where refrigeration services are typically part of a bundled engineering offer.

Forest Operations Director, Andrew Fraser, said: “Forest has been built on more than just our exceptional engineering capability. The consistency our customers rely on comes from the systems, processes and governance we have put in place over many years. This enables us to manage service delivery with precision and protect quality across every site we support. Joining Mitie allows us to take our proven track record into a larger environment, supporting growth in self-delivery and creating opportunities to extend into additional sectors, while keeping scalability without compromise at the centre of everything we do.”

Digital future

Secondly, the acquisition was also driven by how advanced refrigeration fits with Mitie’s range of intelligent services, including:

  • Remote monitoring
  • Connected engineers
  • Predictive maintenance

Through Mitie’s bespoke technology, including Mozaic360, potential failures will be flagged before they occur. Similarly, pro-active, data-supported maintenance strategies will avoid downtime and contribute to cost savings for customers.

Andrew added: “Refrigeration is evolving quickly, and this partnership helps us stay ahead. Forest is known for reliability and our expertise in diagnosing and repairing issues the first time. Mitie’s intelligent monitoring will provide our customers with earlier visibility of faults and a clearer insight before we attend site. This means faster and more efficient visits with higher first-time fix rates, and intervention before customers feel any impact on stock or trading.”

Forest Group joins Mitie’s Technical Services division, building on existing capabilities in Mechanical & Electrical (M&E), heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC), asset upgrades, decarbonisation technologies and power and grid connections.

The business currently operates in the Midlands, Northern England and Scotland, but there are ambitious growth plans, which will extend its reach further across the UK.

Technical Services Operating Officer, Adam Mitton, said: “We believe Mitie’s capabilities, systems and resources will benefit Forest Group, just as it brings new capabilities to our range of services. It’s an exciting time for both organisations.”

Find out more about Mitie’s engineering services

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